


Three Men In A Canal Boat

by krikkiter68



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Eleventh Doctor Era, Emotional, Gen, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Past Doctors, Reminiscing, Tenth Doctor Era, Thirteenth Doctor Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-11 01:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16465853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krikkiter68/pseuds/krikkiter68
Summary: Wilf meets with Brian and Graham to discuss their Doctors.





	Three Men In A Canal Boat

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Трое в катере](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18191486) by [TheLadyRo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyRo/pseuds/TheLadyRo)



It was a cold Autumn night, the moon lowering bright and huge on the horizon. A tethered boat bobbed on the dark waters at the edge of the canal, the sky above it wild with glittering stars. Inside, a man handed two steaming mugs to his companions.

“There you go,” Wilf said, “that should keep us going for a bit.”

Brian shivered as he started to zip up his Parka jacket.

“Gawd,” he said. “Bit cold in here, isn’t it?”

“Whatya mean, ‘cold’? I spent ages gettin’ the stove to work! I dunno,” Wilf said, “you’ve got no stamina, you youngsters.”

“You sound just like my Dad used to,” Brian snapped back, putting his hood up. 

“Cold! You don’t know the meaning of the word,” Wilf said. “You try workin’ at a newspaper stand, day in, day out. Graham? You think it’s cold?”

“Ah,” Graham said. “Well, it’s ‘ard to say. I mean, I’ve lived in Sheffield a fair few years now an’ it’s colder than London, I reckon. Mind you, it’s a bit isolated out ‘ere. And it’s night-time. Um…so it’s hard for me to really judge.”

“Right,” Wilf said. “So, gentlemen. You know why we’re here. We need absolute privacy for what we’re about to discuss. This is confidential, right?”

Brian and Graham nodded.

“The Doctor. You say you’ve seen the Doctor?”

Brian nodded. Wilf exhaled.

“Oh, blimey. Tell me what happened.”

“Well,” Brian began, hesitantly, “it was all a bit of an accident, really. One minute I was changing a lightbulb, and the next…”

Wilf chuckled.

“Oh, that sounds like ‘im, all right! Go on, mate.”

“…I was transported. Along with my son. Rory. And I don’t mind sayin’, it was the strangest thing I’d ever experienced. I remember a dinosaur. And Nefertiti. And this strange Doctor fellow. Tall and angular and – “ 

“Yeah, sounds like him – “ 

“ – Square-jawed and floppy-haired. Seemed on the edge of falling over, all the time. Like a, like a drunk giraffe.”

Wilf frowned.

“Nah, doesn’t sound like the bloke I knew. Tall, I’ll give you that. But ‘e had sticky-up hair. And he was graceful – none of this falling-down business. Man could run like a bloomin’ gazelle. My granddaughter – my wonderful Donna – went travellin’ with ‘im, that’s ‘ow we met. And he saved the world many, many times. An’ – I don’t mind tellin’ you, gents, as a man, as an old soldier – I loved that man. I just wish I knew what happened to him…”

Wilf wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, then glimpsed over at Graham.

“You all right, mate? Bit quiet there. When did you meet the Doctor?”

“Uh. Not long ago, as it happens. I was on the train with my wonderful wife, Grace. God rest her soul…”

Brian laid a hand on Graham’s arm.

“Take your time, mate.”

“Yeah,” Wilf murmured. “Sorry to hear that.”

“…I’m fine. Really. Anyway, her son, my step-grandson, Ryan, got delayed, He ‘ad to get his bike out of a tree and he turned up later with his mate from school who’s now a copper. Long story. Well, there we were, threatened by these alien sparking cables, when all of a sudden she fell through the train roof – “

“Yeah,” Brian said, “that sounds like the Doctor.”

“ – Hang on,” Wilf said, confused, “you said, ‘she’?”

“Yeah”, Graham said. “Pretty woman, in her 30s, I’d say. Blonde hair. Big, dark eyes.”

“Hmm, the dark eyes,” Wilf said. “Sounds familiar.”

“ – Talks nineteen to the dozen. Ever so brainy. I can barely follow what she’s saying, sometimes. But it somehow makes sense.”

“Sounds like mine,” Brian said quietly.

“Yeah, you’re right there,” Wilf said. “An’ there’s somethin’ I’ve just remembered. One of our last big talks. The Doctor – my Doctor – said he was gonna change. He was gonna disappear and someone else was gonna go sauntering away…”

“So, they’re all the same person?” Brian said. “Good grief.”

“Oh yeah!” Graham said. “I’ve just remembered – when I met my Doctor she said she’d been a white-haired Scotsman half an hour previous!”

Wilf’s eyebrows almost met his hairline.

“So there’s a Doctor we haven’t even met yet!” 

“Good God, how many of them are out there, scattered across time and space?” Brian said.

Wilf turned to face them, his eyes shining.

“No idea! Come on, lads!” he said, turning and heading up the steps into the freezing outside air.

Three hours later

Brian peered up into Wilf’s telescope.

“Would you mind telling me which constellation I’m supposed to be looking at?” he said.

“I told you before. The Horsehead Nebula. Second on the right, you can’t miss it.”

“Oh, come on,” Graham said. “Let me have a go. I’m dying to see where they are at the moment. Ryan said he could come round for tea tomorrow, but they could be anywhere now.”

Wilf smiled.

“That’s the beauty of it, see? They’ll go where they need to go. There’s no planned trajectory, my friend.”

“Sounds like a metaphor for something,” Brian said, shivering. 

Wilf clapped his gloved hands together.

“Well, that’s enough for one night. Time for some brandy. What do you say, gents? We can think about time and space tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Graham said, as they headed down into the warmth of the downstairs cabin.


End file.
